The Catholic Radical

CATHOLIC

THE

LL

2 P

RADICAL

“_.to foster a society based on creed instead of greed.” Peter Maurin

October/November 2012

Beating Up on the Poor

by Scott Schaeffer-Duffy

bare while driving up Worces-
ter’s Main Street, I saw a truck with
numerous Tea Party bumper stickers,
including one denouncing socialism. I
pulled even with the driver at a stop light,
and told him through our open
windows, “You know public l-

tution, had been eliminated in “advanced
nations” where “the basic job of feeding
the starving, clothing the naked, and shel-
tering the homeless does get done.” He
said American poverty was akin to Adam

braries, schools, the fire depart- 7X eS

ment, and even the street we are
driving on are the results of social-
ism.” The middle-aged white man
in the truck said, ““That’s not true.
Socialism is wasting our taxes to
give money to lazy people on wel-
fare.” The man was angry. He did
not look wealthy, but, clearly, he
was blaming his economic woes
on government spending for the
poor.

The conservative battle cry has
long been “Government hand-
outs to the undeserving poor steal
hard-earned cash from the middle
class!’ So successful has this rhet-
oric been that virtually all politi-
cians, Democrats as well as Republicans,
now pander to the middle class, baby the
rich, and ignore or vilify the poor.

But who are the poor really? The US
Census Bureau’s latest figures show that
they represent 46.2 million Americans
(12.9 million of them children), the high-
est number in 52 years. Those earning
less than $21,000 for a family of three
has climbed significantly since 1968, with
people of color, single parents, and chil-
dren suffering the most.

Peter Edelman argues in The New York
Times (7/28/12) that the blame for grow-
ing American poverty lies with falling
wages and cuts in government services
to the poor. A day later, Tim Worstall
refuted Edelman in Forbes Magazine,
where he said that real poverty, 1.e. desti-

Smith’s example of the linen shirt which
“may not be a necessity: but if you live in
a society where not being able to afford
one means you are regarded as poor, then
not being able to afford one makes you
poor in that society.” In other words, the
American poor are folks who can meet
their real needs, if not “necessities” like
an iphone, Patriots tickets, an x-box, ora
flat screen TV. If they want those luxuries
so badly, they’d just have to work harder
to get them. They deserve neither our pity
or philanthropy.

After more than 27 years living with
the poor, first in Washington, DC and now
here in Massachusetts, I have seen some-
thing of what Worstall says. Poor Ameri-
cans will often go into debt to get the

(Continued on Page 2)

Price: For whatever it’s worth.

A Great Gift

by Jo Massarelli

en the second bone marrow trans-
plant failed to halt his lymphoma,
my brother Tom’s oncologist gave him
eight weeks to live. His athletic body
was emaciated now, with wasted muscle
and grotesquely bloated hands and feet.
Simply chewing food was exhausting.
He compared crossing the room with ac-
complishing his trophy-winning triple
jump. Worse was the rejection from those
who stayed away, too pained to face the
clear departure taking place. His loneli-
ness came to me at night, when, sleeping
on the floor next to his bed, I would hear
him whisper “Jo?” for no reason except to
know that someone was there.

And yet the point to Tom’s life and
death was that someone always was. My
four brothers, my husband, and Tom’s
friends ensconced him in the upstairs den
of my parents’ home, the intimate center of
family life. Here he lived for five months
more — dying and living, living and dying
— the two so intertwined that his obvious
leave-taking could not dampen the rejoic-
ing when he married his Barbara in the liv-
ing room just weeks before we gathered
again for his funeral.

In those five months with Tom, he al-
lowed no denial of what was happening.
We came to speak of Death as a rude
guest, always interrupting and not know-
ing when to leave. Yet my brother was not
a particularly courageous person. What
he did have was the confidence of know-
ing that whatever he faced, he did so with
others who loved him, who loved life, and
who know that, in the end, none of us gets
to stay.

Accepting that life has a natural end
and believing that God gives us our last
breath as well as our first (and that both
and all in between are of equal worth) are

(Continued on Page 5)

Page 2

The Poor

(Continued from Page 1)

junk advertisers insist we need, but this
pales when compared to debt brought on
by unemployment, low wages, and a pa-
thetic lack of opportunities, especially for
women, people of color, and those with-
out a college degree or documentation.

The fact is old-fashioned hard work is
not enough to lift a person out of poverty.
The federal minimum wage has never been
up to the task. The closest it came was in
1968 when it provided 90% of the poverty
threshold. It has steadily declined since
then until it now yields less than half of a
living wage. Not only have real wages for
the poor plummeted, in many cases they
have evaporated altogether. One of our
current guests applied for a restaurant job,
which he was offered on condition that he
work several weeks of “training” without
pay. Companies rely more and more on
unpaid interns, who labor for free in the
hope that their slavery will morph
into paid employment. These prac-
tices are probably illegal, but that
doesn’t stop employers from offer-
ing them or desperate workers from
accepting them.

Wages are so low nowadays
that poor people are driven even
poorer by usurious debt from pay
day loans, shady for-profit colleg-
es, and rent-to-own furniture and
appliance stores. And now, when
the poor cannot pay court fees for
minor infractions, they are increas-
ingly landing in jail, where those
fees mushroom and more and more
states charge them for their own incarcera-
tion (see Ethan Bronner, The New York
Times, 7/2/12). The playing field is far
from level.

And yet, the stereotype of the lazy poor
persists. It was debunked for me in 1982,
when I met a homeless Russian immigrant
named Anatoly, who told me that human
dignity depended on “work and freedom.”
After months of unsuccessful searching
for a job, he jumped off Washington, DC’s
Connecticut Street bridge. Since then, I’ve
met hundreds whose minimum wage jobs
could barely get them a bed-bug infested
cranny in a filthy rooming house. I’ve

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

Vol. 29, No. 2

CATHOLIC

Published by:

The Saints Francis & Thérése Catholic Worker Community
52 Mason Street, Worcester, MA 01610 Telephone: (508) 753-3588, 753-3089

Email:theresecw2@ gmail.com

Founded in 1933, The Catholic Worker is a lay movement serving the poor while
denouncing injustice and proclaiming peace. We are not tax exempt. We rely entire-
ly on the generosity of our supporters to meet our expenses. We welcome volunteers,
letters, poetry, articles, artwork, and donations.

known bright, creative, and decent people,
willing to work hard, who have not been
able to afford higher education, housing,
or healthcare. Increasingly, we are con-
fronted with desperate people who liter-
ally have nowhere to go. Mr. Worstall is
flat wrong to say that all the homeless are
being sheltered. The trials of downtrodden
Americans could come straight out of a

Charles Dickens novel. Men, women, and,
sad to say, high school students are shiver-
ing at night in abandoned building, tents,
cars, or under bridges. It is only a matter
of time before some of these unfortunates
turn up dead.

Cynics take Jesus out of context and
say, “The poor will always be with you,”
absolving themselves and society from
making a serious effort to tackle the sys-
tematic underpinnings of poverty, but
compassionate people know that it is not
part of any divine plan that human be-
ings should suffer unnecessarily. God’s
promise and our duty is to work for a

October/November 2012

October/November 2012

RADICAL

world where “every tear will be wiped
away.” In societies with affordable hous-
ing, healthcare, and higher education, and,
most importantly, a living wage, you do
not find tens of millions of people in pov-
erty generation after generation.

And yet, despite the deepening plight
of the poor, Republicans scapegoat them
and Democrats pander to the middle
class. Speaker after speaker at the
Democratic National Convention
bemoaned the trials of the middle
class. Even Elizabeth Warren, a
Massachusetts liberal running for
the US Senate, said “the middle class
has been chipped, squeezed, and
hammered.” She did not appeal for
another war on poverty. In fact, she
said Matthew 25 (where Christ tells
us that whatever we do for the least,
we do for Him) inspired her to fight
for the middle class. While the reces-
sion has hit Americans earning $70-
$150,000 hard, they are a long way
from the “least” with whom Christ
identifies Himself.

Our voices must be distinct from dem-
agogues and all those who despise, mis-
trust, or sideline the poor. When Jesus
calls us to identify Him in them, He invites
us to turn the prejudices of society upside
down. He reminds us that our spiritual sal-
vation is tied up in the economic salvation
of the poor. By the same token, economic
health and national prosperity should be
measured in terms of how the most need-
ful members of society are doing. When
the poor are given equal opportunities,
their numbers decline and the entire soci-
ety, the human family, benefits. 02

October/November 2012

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

Page 3

In Peace is My Bitterness Most Bitter

Editor’s Note. This article is reprinted
from The Catholic Worker, January, 1967.

[ is not just Vietnam, it is South Africa,
it is Nigeria, the Congo, Indonesia, all
of Latin America. It is not just the pictures
of all the women and children who have
been burnt alive in Vietnam, or the men
who have been tortured, and died. It is not
just the headless victims of the war in Co-
lombia. It is not just the words of Cardi-
nal Spellman and Archbishop Hannan. It
is the fact that whether we like it or not,
we are Americans. It is indeed our coun-
try, right or wrong, as the Cardinal said in
another context. We are warm and fed and
secure (aside from occasional muggings
and murders amongst us). We are the na-
tion the most powerful, the most armed
and we are supplying arms and money to
the rest of the world where we are not our-
selves fighting. We are eating while there
is famine in the world.

Scripture tells us that the picture of
judgment presented to us by Jesus is of
Dives sitting and feasting with his friends
while Lazarus sat hungry at the gate, the
dogs, the scavengers of the East, licking
his sores. We are the Dives. Woe to the
rich! We are the rich. The works of mercy
are the opposite of the works of war, feed-
ing the hungry, sheltering the homeless,
nursing the sick, visiting the prisoner. But
we are destroying crops, setting fire to en-
tire villages and to the people in them. We
are not performing the works of mercy but
the works of war. We cannot repeat this
enough.

When the apostles wanted to call down
fire from heaven on the inhospitable Sa-
maritans, the “enemies” of the Jews, Jesus
said to them, “You know not of what
Spirit you are.” When Peter told our
Lord not to accept the way of the Cross
and His own death, He said, “Get behind
me, Satan. For you are not on the side of
God but of men.” But He also had said,
“Thou are Peter and upon this rock I
will build my church.” Peter denied Jesus
three times at that time in history, but after
the death on the cross, and the Resurrec-
tion and the Descent of the Holy Spirit,

by Dorothy Day

Peter faced up to Church and State alike
and said, “We must obey God rather
than men.” Deliver us, O Lord, from the
fear of our enemies, which makes cowards
of us all.

I can sit in the presence of the Blessed
Sacrament and wrestle for that peace in the

photo of Dorothy Day by Jim Forest

many Catholics throughout the world feel,
and I can find many things in Scripture
to console me, to change my heart from
hatred to love of enemy. “Our worst en-
emies are those of our own household,”
Jesus said. Picking up the Scriptures at
random (as St. Francis used to do) I read
about Peter, James, and John who went
up on the Mount of Transfiguration and
saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elias,
transfigured before their eyes. (A hint of
the life to come, Maritain said.) Jesus
transfigured! He who was the despised of
men, no beauty in him, spat upon, beaten,
dragged to his cruel death on the way to
the cross! A man so much like other men
that it took the kiss of a Judas to single him
out from the others when the soldiers, so
closely allied to the priests, came to take
him. Reading this story of the Transfigura-
tion, the words stood out, words foolishly
babbled, about the first building project
of the Church, proposed by Peter. “Lord,
shall we make here three shelters, one
for you, one for Moses and one for
Elias?” And the account continues, “For
he did not know what to say, he was so
terrified.”

Maybe they are terrified, these princes
of the Church, as we are often terrified
at the sight of violence, which is present

every now and then in our houses of hos-
pitality, and which is always a threat in the
streets of the slums. I have often thought it
is a brave thing to do, these Christmas vis-
its of Cardinal Spellman to the American
troops all over the world, Europe, Korea,
Vietnam. But, oh God what are all these
Americans, so-called Christians doing all
over the world so far from our own shores?

But what words are those he spoke —
going against even the Pope, calling for
victory, total victory? Words are as strong
and powerful as bombs, as napalm. How
much the government counts on those
words, pays for those words to exalt our
own way of life, to build up fear of the
enemy. Deliver us, Lord, from the fear
of the enemy. That is one of the lines in
the psalms, and we are not asking God to
deliver us from enemies but from the fear
of them. Love casts out fear, but we have
to get over the fear in order to get close
enough to love them.

There is plenty to do, for each one of
us, working on our own hearts, changing
our own attitudes, in our own neighbor-
hoods. If the just man falls seven times
daily, we each one of us fall more than
that in thought, word, and deed. Prayer
and fasting, taking up our own cross daily
and following Him, doing penance, these
are the hard words of the Gospel.

As to the Church, where else shall we
go, except to the Bride of Christ, one flesh
with Christ? Though she is a harlot at
times, she is our Mother. We should read
the book of Hosea, which is a picture of
God’s steadfast love not only for the Jews,
His chosen people, but for His Church, of
which we are every one of us members or
potential members. Since there is no time
with God, we are all one, all one body,
Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese, and He
has commanded us to love one another.

“A new commandment I give, that
you love others as I have loved you,’
not to the defending of your life, but to the
laying down of your life.

A hard saying.

“Love is indeed a harsh and dreadful
thing” to ask of us, of each one of us, but it
is the only answer. @2

Page 4

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

Real Runners Don’t Lie

by Scott Schaeffer-Duffy

ow that I’ve been running for three
Nears. six months, and twenty-two
days, and have completed 122 races (103
of them on athlinks.com), I feel quali-
fied to say that authentic runners do not
lie about their times. We might exagger-
ate during pre-race trash-talking to psych
out an opponent, but everyone knows that
race results are easily verified, so it does
not pay to lie.

Mark Singer, in The New Yorker
(8/6/12), exposed a 48-year-old dentist
from Michigan, named Kip Litton, who
ran an elaborate scam for years cheating
in more than a dozen marathons and even
setting up an en-
tirely fictitious race
online to boost his
reputation. In that
phony race, he in-
vented names, ad-
dresses, emails, and
running histories for
his imaginary con-
testants. Later on,
Litton had some of
these non-existent
runners post online
testimonials to refute charges that he was
a fraud. Litton’s efforts spanned years,
but he was eventually caught. Like Rosie
Ruiz, the infamous Boston Marathon
cheater, Litton could neither run nor hide .

Earlier today, I learned about identical
twins who managed to post fantastic mar-
athon times by tag teaming each race at
the half way point. They got caught when
race photos showed a watch on one wrist
at the start and on another at the finish.
Clever, but not kosher.

And then, US Representative Paul
Ryan, the GOP’s Vice Presidential nomi-
nee, told an interviewer, “I had a two hour
and fifty-something’” marathon. That’s
blazing fast! Plenty of serious runners
would be happy to finish a marathon at
3:50, never mind 2:50. But when Run-
ner’s World magazine stated that they
could not verify Ryan’s time, his cam-
paign backpedaled admitting that he had
only run one marathon, the 1990 Grand-

ma’s race in Duluth, Minnesota, which he
finished in 4:01.

In a prepared statement, Congressman
Ryan said: “The race was more than 20
years ago, but my brother Tobin— who ran
Boston last year—reminds me that he is
the owner of the fastest marathon in the
family and has never himself ran [sic] a
sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it
would certainly be to four hours, not three.
He gave me a good ribbing over this at
dinner tonight.”

Sorry, Paul, real runners do not “round
down” their marathon times by an hour
and nine minutes. Two days after Ryan’s
retraction, 92% of
10,000 respondents
to an online poll
called his boast “an
honest mistake,” but
runners are less for-
giving. On the new
website www.paul-
ryantimecalculator.
com, I entered my
best marathon time
of 3:32:31 and was
told: “Your Paul
Ryan-adjusted Marathon time: 2:33:49.
The current Men’s World Record for Mar-
athon is 2:03:38. Your Paul Ryan-adjusted
time is only 30:11 away from a new Paul
Ryan-certified world record!” @2

Editor’s Note: During his acceptance
speech at the Republican National Con-
vention, Representative Ryan made nu-
merous assertions about President Obama
which were untrue or misleading. Some
advertisements for President Obama’s re-
election have also been deceptive. We op-
pose lying by all parties.

The grammatical error in Represen-
tative Ryan’s prepared statement (using
“ran” instead of “run”) is a separate,
egregious matter. It reminds us of the res-
taurant in Worcester which posted a sign
saying “Restrooms for eating customers
only.” It’s a slippery slope from using the
wrong tense, to misplacing modifiers, to
downright incomprehensibility.

October/November 2012

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by William Sommers

HE

Had only an angel’s advice
Here in the totality of eternity
After blood and sorrow
Still thought of herself as a mother

SHE

Could hear the rumbles

Over centuries of hate

And kept her suffering response
Within her sorrowed heart

SHE

Finally decided on a visit

Much objection even from her son
But she was still and forever

The undeniable mother of hope

SHE

Came to see those of hers

Who seemed stretched

With a love that was broken

by the male demands for crossing

SHE

Felt what had been

Her suffering long ago
Was here again repeated
In this brutal fiction

SHE

Knew now the total

As she knew then

She must stay and suffer
With those who also suffer

SHE

Could not now return

The epiphany of hope

Made it impossible not to stay
Until what was sacrificial

IS MADE SACRED FOR ALL

October/November 2012

basic tenets of our faith. The corpus on
the crucifix reminds us that suffering and
death come to us all, but it also tells us that
Jesus transcends our temporal misery. We
can truly trust Him not only with our life,
but with our death and dying as well.

As Christians we believe that God 1s
the Author of life, the One who made us
in His image. That alone is the source of
human dignity. Therefore it is not in the
domain of the human to end a life, not
even the one that belongs to her/him. The
difficulty is that although our changing
circumstances can become undignified
(through disease or poverty or the actions
of others) our inherent human dignity is
unalterable. It cannot be changed nor be-
stowed by anything we or anyone else
may do. Put another way, there exists no
prescription that any physician can write
for human dignity.

In Massachusetts, we are soon faced
with a decision that has the potential to
cause a sea change in the eroding social
contract to care for one another when we
are the most vulnerable. The so-called
Massachusetts Death With Dignity Act
authorizes physicians to write prescrip-
tions for lethal drugs for patients who re-
quest them on the basis of terminal illness.
Supporters for this Act reject the notion of
human dignity as a gift from God; rather
they describe it in terms of personal au-
tonomy, freedom, and self determination.
All important concerns certainly, just not
as important as the gift of life itself.

It is said that “thoughts are giants”
and “ideas have consequences.” One of
the consequences of physician-assisted
suicide is the notion that we can reduce
or eliminate suffering by eliminating the
sufferer, so long as it is a free choice and

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

A Great Gift

(Continued from Page 1)

the end of his life. Iam certainly not alone
in my gratitude. Having cared well for a
dying person is a great gift for the care-
giver, one that comes with peace of mind
when the last breath is drawn. The certain
knowledge that everything that could be
done was done, imperfectly for sure, but
in love nonetheless, is precious. Just ask
Geri, or Joe, or so many others who have
done the same. We should be prepared to
defend human life on principle, as well as
with our presence. (2

The Casualties

Mount

he US/NATO War in Afghanistan

began in November, 2001. Over
20,000 Afghans were killed in the
first four weeks. During the remain-
ing seven years of the Bush admin-
istration, over 16,000 Afghans and
Pakistanis were killed, along with 630
Americans. In the first three and a half
years of the Obama administration,
10,041 Afghans and Pakistanis have
been killed and 1,477 Americans.

By all measurements, the US
war is a catastrophic failure. Attacks
against US and other NATO troops
by supposed Afghan allies are at an
all-time high, as are US military sui-
cides. Despite unprecedented invest-
ment of US dollars, the Afghan gov-
ernment remains one of the world’s
most corrupt. A representative of
a humanitarian aid organization in
Afghanistan referred to the Karzai

Page 5

Editor’s Note: Jo Massarelli, an extended
member of the Saints Francis & Thérése
Catholic Worker community, is a graduate
of Georgetown University who works with
families, human service staff, and people
with impairments to bring about positive
change, one person at a time.

The Massachusetts “Death with Dig-
nity” Initiative, also known as Question
2, will appear on the November 6, 2012
general election ballot. A “no” vote will
defeat the measure.

35,918

630

==

N
=
—

government as “a mafia.”

Despite the mounting death
tolls, neither President Obama
nor Mitt Romney nor the Ameri-
can public is paying much atten-
tion to the war. The urgency to
end this pointless killing remains.
Please join us in our peace weekly
vigil on Tuesdays from 4-5 PM in
Worcester’s Lincoln Square. 02

in the last six months of life. Set aside for
a moment that both factors are difficult to
determine with certainty. Additionally as-
sisted suicide will have the effect of ren-
dering us unwilling and/or incompetent to
truly care for one another when suffering
is intractable but not terminal, or when the
sufferer lives until dying a natural death.

I am very grateful that my brother gave
me the opportunity to take care of him at

US Military Afghan/Pakistani

Sources:www. icasualties.org, Associated
Press, Human Rights Watch, UN Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan, as of Sept. 13, 2012.

Franz Masereel

Hi Scott, Claire, and all,

So I sit on my front porch in Burlington,
Vermont, reading “The Cost of War” arti-
cle from the most recent Catholic Radical.
As always, it’s provocative, and I’m glad
to have read it.

We’re just here for the summer, but
Burlington has lived up to its hype of
being an earthy, conscientious, commu-
nity-minded town — and stunningly gor-
geous, too. The one drawback that is
rarely mentioned: twice a day most week-
days, the Air Force flies two F-15s over
the town. Loud and obnoxious. I can
only think of our huge military complex
whenever I hear them. To worsen the
deal, the Air Force wants to congratulate
the local division by bringing the new,
elite F-35 to the area. It’s created quite
a stir (because Vermonters are informed
and conscientious, ready to question the
government), but one of the complaints
I’ve heard mentioned most often is the
noise.

I feel mixed about the noise. Yes, it’s
obnoxious, probably decreases property
values, and definitely unnerves me as I’m
trying to put our toddler down for a nap.
But maybe, just maybe, it’s a brief way
to connect with all those living in war
zones, who are perpetually living in fear

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

of such sounds. Or a way to remember
that, even though Burlington appears to
be a utopia, we are actually still within the
borders of the US, paying into the largest
military in the world.
Either way, it’s a twice-daily reminder
to pray for peace.
Anyway, just thought you’d like to know
about the hype up here.
Liz (Fallon) Kurtz
Burlington, Vermont

Dear Scott and Claire,

My heart goes out to Barbara Johnson
(who was denied communion at her moth-
er’s funeral) but my heart is not surprised
that she was denied access to the Blessed
Sacrament, presumably for having/being
with a female partner.

Too many of us have been driven out of
the Church, denied full participation in the
Mass and reception of the Eucharist.

Some of us, myself included, are
temporarily or permanently without
partners and thus may remain in the
“good graces” of the Church, albeit on
the fringe. We are not without sympathy,
however, for our lesbian sisters who may
be in relationships, and, we are not with-
out courage to speak up for them and for
ourselves.

The Church mandates against gay sex-
ual expression. This is not of course an ex-
cathedra mandate.

For those of us who love the Church,
for whom the Church lives in our very
bones, this mandate against our lifestyle is
torture.

We do trust in God, however, and rely
on His mercy that someday we will be vin-
dicated.

Someday the Church will know what
psychologists have known for years: that
we are an alternative, but not an evil, form
of sexuality. That we too must and love as
Christ has taught us to love and that we too
are loved as we truly are, in Christ.

Finally, we must remember Galileo,
who suffered house arrest for the rest of
his life at the hands of the Vatican for the
crime of proclaiming that the earth does in
fact revolve around the sun.

The Vatican can and does make mis-
takes — and the Vatican is very slow to
correct them.

Let us pray that this travesty against us,

October/November 2012

your sisters, may be righted soon.
Peace to all God’s children,
Geri DiNardo
Worcester, Massachusetts

Editor’s Note: Geri is a long-time mem-
ber of the Catholic Worker movement
and a dear friend. After reading her let-
ter at a community meeting, Scott wrote
to Geri thanking her for such a heartfelt
and personal letter but expressed con-
cerns about how, as a Catholic Worker
community, we could respond. She sent
the following reply:

Dear Scott,

.... want to address in particular the part in
your letter about the “want to express posi-
tions which can be defended by appealing
to Scripture, tradition, saints, bishops, and
popes. We think this is Dorothy Day’s ge-
nius and Peter Maurin’s too.”

Well, Scott, if that be the case, the dis-
cussion may already be dead in the water.

I prefer to look at this particular issue
from the point-of-view of the lived expe-
rience of some who love God, love the
Church, and wish to live a same-sex rela-
tionship as Christ would have us live.

There is little to be said of this issue and
Peter Maurin. He surely would not have
favored homosexuality—sexual or celi-
bate, given the Church or secular culture
of the day.

Dorothy paints a slightly different
picture.

I was in California in the 70’s just after
Jan Adams (an editor of the CW New York
newspaper in the earlier days) returned
from New York after asking Dorothy if
they might at least broach the subject of
homosexuality in the CW paper. Dorothy
refused.

I think she refused because of not
wanting to stand against the Church on
this issue. It really does go against current
Church teaching.

I do not think Dorothy would support
gay/lesbian sex even today.

For a support of this sexuality demands
a change in how we think about sex — a
change from its primary purpose being
promulgation of progeny to its primary
purpose being pleasuring one’s partner and
expression of love as God loves.

Yet we know that many CWs have been

October/November 2012

and are gay and we know that Dorothy
knew, too, but, were they all celibate? And
did Dorothy know this?

So, no, I do not believe Dorothy would
speak for us, even now. Who will speak
for us?

As for Scripture and tradition, we only
know or think we know that Jesus never
spoke of homosexuality at all — tradition-
ally, though it has been anathema. So, who
will speak for us?

As for the saints, well, surely there have
been gay and lesbian saints. In my mind,
there would have to be. But were there any
who were not celibate? We do not know.
These issues, to my knowledge, have not
been discussed until recent years. So, who
will speak for us?

Yes, Scott, the criteria you mention,
though noble, leave us once again no-
where to turn in the Church.

Perhaps we now need new criteria
for making these judgments within the
Church.

I find myself with the need to speak for
ourselves. All of us who try to love God
as Christ, love one another in Christ, we
must try to speak for ourselves to our het-
erosexual brothers and sisters. We must
try to love ourselves, each other, and the
Church.

Perhaps, in the end, only we will speak
for us.

All of this is to say, Scott, that the usual
mode for defense of the argument— Doro-
thy and Peter’s stance, Scripture, tradition,
lives of the saints, bishops, and popes does
not appear to be able to work in this case.

Instead, we may need to rely on trust in
God to guide us, our own life experience,
the word of good and holy people far more
learned than I, and prayer, much prayer.

So, thanks for your attention. You and
Claire are regularly in my prayers and I
adore you both.

Geri DiNardo
Worcester, Massachusetts

Editor’s Note: The Catholic Worker move-
ment has always been marked by its di-
versity. We have members from different
religions, races, and sexual orientations.
Some of the most committed members are
gay. Everyone is welcome at the Catholic
Worker.

In recent years, several Protestant

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

Churches have begun performing gay
marriages. Several Catholic Worker com-
munities have argued for gay rights as
a justice issue. Some of them would un-
doubtedly urge the Catholic Church to
stop opposing civil gay marriage, and to
start performing it as a sacrament. This
challenges current Catholic teaching
which defines the sacrament of marriage
as a covenantal union between a man and
a woman. It also challenges the definition
of marriage given by Christ in Matthew
19:4-6.

Our criteria for how we decide what
issues to challenge has been to go to the
roots of Catholicism: Scripture, tradition,
the lives of the saints, and the teaching of
the Catholic hierarchy. Using those tools,
we called for the ordination of women to
the priesthood, despite the strong oppo-
sition of the last two popes. Because the
hierarchy focuses so heavily on sexual
questions, to the detriment of peace and
economic justice, we have largely avoided
them. We believe human sexuality is in-

Page 7

nately good and intensely personal. In
our hospitality, on Mason Street, we have
never sanctioned sex between unmarried
couples, gay or straight.

Geri’s letter tugs at our hearts because
we recognize that the life-long sexual
abstinence the Church demands of gay
Catholics must indeed be torturous. We
are moved by her courageous honesty and
faith in the Catholic community. Nonethe-
less, we cannot join Geri’s appeal without
putting aside those tools which define our
Catholic faith.

Perhaps the Catholic hierarchy will
come to accept gay marriage, as have
many Protestant Churches. Perhaps, we
will come to believe that gay marriage is
an issue so compelling that we must leave
the Catholic Church and rename. our-
selves using a small “c,” like the Wauke-
sha catholic Worker community. We do not
feel called to do that now. We do not have
consensus on the question of gay mar-
riage and, moreover, we Still find too much
goodness within the Church to leave it.

Catholic Worker Calendar

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Rita Corbin

October 8 & 22 November 12 — Mass or Evening Prayer: Please join us in
prayer and song on Mason Street at 7:30 p.m. Refreshments to follow.

October 3 & 10 — Round Table Discussions on Catholic Social Teaching:
Michael Boover, Marc Tumeinski, and Sr. Rena Mae Gagnon, PFM. 7-9 p.o.,

52 Mason Street. Refreshments to follow.

October 24 —US Militarization of Africa: A presentation by Xaverian mission-
ary Fr. Rocco Puopolo, former director of the Africa Fatih and Justice Network.
7 P.M., 52 Mason Street. Refreshments to follow.

For more information, call: 508 753-3588

Page 8

THE CATHOLIC RADICAL

October/November 2012

Mason Street Musings

e endured a hot, dry July here on

Mason Street. Drenching August
rains brought relief from those dispiriting
days and the nightly ritual of watering the
garden. I sometimes resented having to
haul out the dusty hose to soak the veg-
etable beds and buckets of basil. The hour-
long task made a long day longer.

But there were times when I relished
the mysterious vibrancy of the garden ona
summer night, the scent of mint in moon-
light. Plants, once droopy in the afternoon
heat, stood erect in the darkness, their
leaves full and dramatically unfurled.

Now the lean months of summer give
way to the abundance of autumn. An egg-
plant the size of a football grows beside
the wispy carrots. Squash sprawls lavish-
ly across the front garden fence. It feels
pleasantly exotic to be able to step out the
back door and pluck the ingredients for our
supper, as if we were residents of a sunny,
Mediterranean villa rather than a cramped,
but homey, dwelling in Worcester.

Our table is almost always crowded,
the requests for hospitality so frequent, I
give up trying to keep count. In the eve-
ning, while cooking supper, I listen to
radio news. How surreal to hear politicians
speak of “American exceptionalism” and
the need to “get over” our fear of success
while the phone rings off the hook with
pleas from people begging for shelter.

Many of the callers are young. During
a week in late August, I fielded requests

SS. Francis & Thérése Catholic Worker
52 Mason Street

Worcester, MA 01610

(508) 753-3588 & (508) 753-3089

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

from a pregnant 19-year-old evicted from
a foreclosed building; an 18-year old, who
had been camping in the woods, unable to
pay the bills after his father’s arrest; and
F., a 21-year émigré from a poor, crime-
ridden neighborhood in Miami. He had

to get out of Miami, he told me, because
he was “losing hope.” We are accustomed
to hosting economic refugees from other
lands, but these American migrants, many
from Florida, are new to us. They come
searching for jobs, housing, better health-
care, a bit of hope.

F. is here, but we had no room for the
19-year old who called yesterday asking
for a bed until he received his first pay-
check for a part-time job at Walmart. “I’m
nineteen,’ he kept saying.

There are days when I want to hurl the
telephone out the window.

Amid the need, we have received much
support. Thanks to all of you who re-
sponded to our tales of financial woe with
generous contributions. We could not con-

tinue without your help.

Throughout the summer, old friends
and community members, including Timo-
thy and Christa Aikens-Hill and their three
sweet daughters stopped by to visit. More
than fifty people crammed into the house
for an August Mass commemorating our
25 years on Mason Street. The night was
hot and we sweated as we listened to Bish-
op Rueger, in his inimitable style, speak
about creating “colonies of love.”

“Nothing is more practical than find-
ing God, that is, than falling in love in a
quite absolute, final way,’ wrote the Je-
suit Pedro Arrupe. “What you are in love
with, what seizes your imagination, will
affect everything. It will decide what will
get you out of bed in the morning, what
you will do with your evenings, how you
will spend your week-ends, what you read,
who you know, what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and grati-
tude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will
decide everything.”

Here on Mason Street, we are celebrat-
ing the romantic love of our eldest son
Justin and Patricia Kirkpatrick. The two
marry on September 22, the fall equinox.
As the earth spins into its autumnal orbit,
we will dance and dine beneath a big white
tent in a meadow beside a mountain, feast-
ing on soups and pesto made with basil
from gardens we were obliged to water
throughout our dry July. Blessed autumn
everyone.@2 Claire

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